Key indicator

Week 1 Win Equals Long-Term Success

Finally, we're "back to football." There has been much speculation leading into this past weekend's games as to which teams will make the playoffs, win their division, and win the Super Bowl. Now with Kickoff Weekend under our belt we can take a look at the first true litmus test of the entire league's chances for the postseason.

Since 1978 when the NFL went to a 16-game schedule (not including the strike-shortened '82 season) 251 of the 474 teams which won their opener went to the playoffs. A total of 147 of those teams actually won their division. Conversely, of the 474 teams who lost the first game of the season only 106 advanced to the playoffs and a mere 63 won their division.

There is a popular saying that "one game does not make a season," but analyzing the Kickoff Weekend efforts of all NFL teams seems to prove otherwise.

How about all the Super Bowl teams? How many of them won their season-opener? Let's take a look both teams that made it to the yearly big game.

Super Bowl	Winner	Opener Result	Loser	Opener Result
I	Green Bay	win	Kansas City	win
II	Green Bay	tie	Oakland	win
III	N.Y. Jets	win	Baltimore	win
IV	Kansas City	win	Minnesota	loss
V	Baltimore	win	Dallas	win
VI	Dallas	win	Miami	tie
VII	Miami	win	Washington	win
VIII	Miami	win	Minnesota	win
IX	Pittsburgh	win	Minnesota	win
X	Pittsburgh	win	Dallas	win
XI	Oakland	win	Minnesota	win
XII	Dallas	win	Denver	win
XIII	Pittsburgh	win	Dallas	win
XIV	Pittsburgh	win	Los Angeles	loss
XV	Oakland	win	Philadelphia	win
XVI	San Francisco	loss	Cincinnati	win
XVII	Washington	win	Miami	win
XVIII	L.A. Raiders	win	Washington	loss
XIX	San Francisco	win	Miami	win
XX	Chicago	win	New England	win
XXI	N.Y. Giants	loss	Denver	win
XXII	Washington	win	Denver	loss
XXIII	San Francisco	win	Cincinnati	win
XXIV	San Francisco	win	Denver	win
XXV	N.Y. Giants	win	Buffalo	win
XXVI	Washington	win	Buffalo	win
XXVII	Dallas	win	Buffalo	win
XXVIII	Dallas	loss	Buffalo	win
XXIX	San Francisco	win	San Diego	win
XXX	Dallas	win	Pittsburgh	win
XXXI	Green Bay	win	New England	loss
XXXII	Denver	win	Green Bay	win
XXXIII	Denver	win	Atlanta	win
XXXIV	St. Louis	win	Tennessee	win
XXXV	Baltimore	win	N.Y. Giants	win
XXXVI	New England	loss	St. Louis	win
XXXVII	Tampa Bay	loss	Oakland	win
XXXVIII	New England	loss	Carolina	win
XXXIX	New England	win	Philadelphia	win
XL	Pittsburgh	win	Seattle	loss
XLI	Indianapolis	win	Chicago	win
XLII	N.Y Giants	loss	New England	win
XLIII	Pittsburgh	win	Arizona	win
XLIV	New Orleans	win	Indianpolis	win
XL	Green Bay	win	Pittsburgh	win

When looking at the numbers it is quite evident if you want to make it to the Super Bowl, you want to win the first game of the season. Of the 45 Super Bowl winners, only seven lost in Week One. Interestingly, one less or six of all the Super Bowl runners-up lost the first game of the season.

Airing it out

Kickoff Weekend 2011 also set a new bar in terms of passing yardage. There was a total of 8,419 gross passing yards logged by all 32 NFL teams during this past weekend's action which represents an all-time high for any single week in NFL history.

NFL offenses have become more and more pass oriented since the league was founded in 1920. Anyone can easily see proof of that by looking at the total yards compiled by all teams each decade.

Decade	Passing Yards
1920s	Unavailable
1930s	69,444
1940s	159,117
1950s	269,009
1960s	660,967
1970s	677,888
1980s	951,087
1990s	1,025,543
2000s	1,135,331